Pak govt forms commission to probe journalist’s killing

Jun 14, 2011 |

Islamabad

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The Pakistan Government has formed a commission headed by a senior judge to investigate the abduction and killing of journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad, who went missing two days after he alleged the Navy had been infiltrated by Al Qaeda elements.

Federal shariat court chief justice Agha Rafiq will head the commission that will probe the mysterious death of Shahzad, who was Pakistan bureau chief of Asia Times Online. He went missing while driving to a TV station in Islamabad on May 29 and his body was found in a canal in Punjab province a day later.

The commission was formed following protests by journalists and rights groups. The media had rejected an earlier commission comprising the police officials from Islamabad and Punjab and a representative of the journalist’s community.

The Pakistan federal union of journalists had given the government till June 15 to form a commission to investigate Shahzad’s killing and warned it would organise a countrywide protest and a sit in outside parliament.

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